rev. theodore m. hesburgh, c.s.c.: speechesarchives.nd.edu/hesburgh/cphs141-10-03.pdf · oi'...
TRANSCRIPT
(Ad.dress given by the Reverend 'l'heodore M. Hesburgb., c.s.c., President of the University of l'fot11 e Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, at the Air Force Sta.ff Chaplains Conference, Washington, D. C. , February 14, 1957)
It 1s a great honor for me this evening to be here with the staff
Chaplains of the United States Air Poree. Because you are in a serious business,
I would l.ike to present to you a serious message. J.tr subject this evening is
"The Necessity of Jfaith in a. Living Democracy." It might also be termed the
"spiritual foundations of democracy." Why this subject for Air J'orce Chaplains;
Because your very existence and mission cry out for it. If the world were not
split asunder ~ in two great conflicting camps, there would not be a.n Air
Force to defend our camp. But the battle is not simply military. We can becane
so interested in defense th.at we forget What we are defending. Basically, we
are defending the dmoocratic charter against totalitarianism., and it is highly
important that Air Poree Chaplains instill in their men a sense of the im
portance ot what they are defendillg and the deep spiritual roots from which it
has sprung.
I have already remarked that we have a.n Air Force because we a.re
living in a world which is split asunder tod.a¥ by two conflicting world views.
Some would see in this a mere contest ot power politics - one that can be re-
solved by a balance of power or by that la.test "deus ex ma.china": peacetul
co-existence.
But the heart of the conflict is beyond the physical forces of' man-
power, strategic bases, and nuclear weapons. It is really a battle for the souls
of men, a. modern version of the unending battle between the powers of light ulld.
the powers ot darkness. Underneath the banner headlines, the diploma.tic moves
and counter-moves, lies the really significant clash of diametrically opposed.
ideas and beliefs. These are freighted. with their own special urgency, because
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ultimately it is on this high level of idea and spirit that the battle will
be won or lost. The danger is that we will be Cm.Tied awq by the surface
pressures and superficial urgencies, that we will spend ourselves holding up
the outer walls while the city collapses within of its own dead weight.
Sir Richard Livingstone has diagnosed the present situation most
cl.early in an article written during the war:
"We shall not un.derste.nd ourselves and our predicament unless we
realize vb.at has happened during the past fifty yea.rs. Every civilization grows
up round and with a. system. of beliefs and values, which are its vital principle,
the nerve which feeds and keeps it healthy. If that principle perishes, if that
nerve is cut, then the structure of society which depeuds on it still remains,
but the life has gone out of it, its self-renewing power is gone, and it declines
first into decq and then into death. Those who have lived through the la.st
fifty years have witnessed the steady and progressive destruction of the soul of
Western Civilization; the soul that began some 1500 years a.go, to make itself a.
body which grew with time to sucll size and strength that nothi.Dg seemed able to
impair its health. lfow it is very sick. And, a.a with ~ other illnesses, a
disease of soul is undermining the health of the body.
"The soul ot Europe is partly Greek and partly Christian. The vital
force of our civilization comes from two sources, beyond which no others count
seriously, from Palestine and from Greece. We ma:y not believe in Christianity.
We mcy- not like it, but whether we deplore it or not, the ma.in source of Europe
is Christianity •••• the mass ot people drew and still draw the best part of
their beliefs and standards in lite and conduct from Christianity, however con
tused and diluted the channels through which they pass. To attack Christianity
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was ultimately to attack the spiritual life of Europe, to weaken it; was to
-w-eaken that life • • • • And so we get our mod.em civilization - a civilization
of means without ends, with e..n ample body, but with a meagre soul, with a
rich inheri ta.nee, but vi thout clear 1<"alues or a ruling principle • • • • There
is a phrase in Plato which exactly describes our condition •••• the li.'l?lger
of living 'by habit without an intellectu..."tl principle.' Bia point is th.at
mere habit is wll in settled times, but that it does not stand up to severe
stresses; and as a man 'Who lived in a world almost as difficult a.s our own,
he had reason to know. Recent events :.ln Europe confirm his belief. In 1930,
Germany was a highly educated nation, living in the traditions of European
religion, morals, and civilization; in 194o, it is a country where truth,
liberty, justice, and mercy a.:t'e forgotten words. In the past, these virtues
had been guaranteed and reinforced by the metaphysics of' Christian. belief:
that had imperceptibly worn away a.n.d the house th.at seemed so star.:ile proved to
be without :foundations and, struck by the storm, collapsed. It was a mere
'ha.bit without intellectual principle. 1 What happens, in the experience of
us all, to individuals, happened to a people, and for the same reason. I.et us
not be too confident of our own immunity from a like :fate, incredible a.nd re-
This, I take it, is a statement that can serve as a background
for our subject today: the necessity of faith in a living democracy. We are
not interested here in the superficial aspects of the present world crisis.
Our subject takes us to the heart of the matter. We 1:u-e not merely interested
1n defeating Communism as an opposing world view. We are rather seeking for
* Sir Richard Li!1ngstone, Cris!s 2f Civiliza~ion in 1'.h! Dee~~ Causes of ~War, pp. 9(1-99, 103-lOli, London, l§liO, Allen a.nd Unwin Ltd.
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the dynamic sources of life in our own democratic form. I:f Com:m.mism were
to be wiped froni. the race of' th.e earth today or tomorrow 1 we would not our-
selves be better than we are today, only perlk1.ps less hnrassod. And, in the
providence of God, perhaps ve are faced with the present crisis in order t..>iat
we might assess more urgently those truths by which we :profess to live. This
achievement alone, in truth and in reality, would be the most e:ffective kind
oi' death blow to Communism and its claims.
Reinhold Niebuhr says that nhiato:ry pitches the drama of life on
continually higher levels, but the essentials of the drama remain the same."*
T'ne essentiPJ.s today, as yesterd.0¥, are the stark re~.1.ities of life and death,
the continual struggle to possess our souls, the basic truths and beliefs that,
like the starry heavens at night, securely guide our paths from darkness to
lig."1t.
Our subject today, the necessity of faith in a living democracy,
is a stirring invitation to lai)" bare the raw elements that are in most basic
conflict. The key word in the title ie Faith.
It is part and parcel of the intellectual and moral climate in
which ve live that the title might well be interpreted in two different weys:
the one wa;y being an illusion that would keep us on the surface of the conflict,
and the other interpretation, the one to which I shall most seriously address
myself, taking us to the heart of the crisis.
First, u few words about the interpretation that could lead ua
fruitlessly astruy. This would emphasize the necessity of faith ~ !!:. µv!E8
democra.c1, democracy being the object of our fa.ith, and the :t'aith itself being
* Reinhold Niebuhr, Article in Nation, Fe'brur;ry 2947.
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not a. religious, but rather a secular faith. This secular or civic faith is
not a bad thing, except in this, that it might be conceived as a goal, while
in reality it is a half-way- house. The democratic principles in which it be
lieves are both good and valid, but by itself, this faith tends to terminate
in practical conclusions that are held Without a deep consciousness of their
real. root principles. This faith, standing by itself, occasions what m.a.ny
modern thinkers have described as the real poverty of our age: that we are
living on the spiritual capital of ages past, that we eat of the fruit of ages
pa.st without being conscious of the tree and branch of our spiritual heritage.
Almost everyone in the Western World would profess this secular
faith in the democratic charter. Yet there are far too marzy who profess this
secular faith as a matter of torm, or of practical conclusion and pragmatic
living, without ascribing to the ultimates that alone can validate the principles
of democracy. The best description of this anomaly that I have found is in the
contribution of eome Princeton professors to the second Symposium on Science,
Philosophy, and Religion. In condemning the modern naturalistic philosophy of
life which continues the Rousseauist1c exaltation of man by himself they $8¥: ..
"Natura.lism denies beth man's relation ·to an order of ultimate
values and his dependence upon a cosmic spiritual Power. It thus divorces him
f'rom the moral and spiritual. order to which he belongs and upon which he depends
for strength and direction. It encourages him to determine his ends for himself
a.s a completely autonomous being, without Bn:¥ norm beyond his own interests a.nd
desires, individual and collective. As a result it leads inevitably to pride
and egotism. The individual, having nothing higher than himself to worship or
serve, worships himself, his reason, his culture, his race.
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rtMany who hold to this view in democratic countries are unaware
of the dangers in their position. Influenced. by the la.st remnants of philo
sophical ides.lism, romantic transcendentalism, or religious Theism in our day,
they act as if they still believed in the spiritual conception of man which
they have intellectually repudiated. They try to maintain their feelings for
the dignity of man, while paying homage to an essentially materialistic philo
sophy according to 'Which man is simply a highly developed animal. They are
loyal to their democratic society and culture, but by their theory they deny
the spiritual nature of man and the values upon which our society has been
built. In short, they are living off the spiritual capital which has come
down to them from their classical and religious heritage, while, at the same
time, they ignore that heritage itself' as antiquated and :false. Since this
contradiction Will prove to be intolerable, scholars and teachers must recover
and ree.:ffirm the spiritual conception of man and his good which we have derived
from Greek and Hebraie-christian sources."*
However good than is the object of this secular faith in democracy,
the secular fa.1th itself is an empty shell without the religious faith which
inspires it and gives it depth. Without the inspiration and foundation of
religious faith, seeular faith alone gives rise to Plato's indictment of living
"by habit without an intellectual principle", the unexamined life which is hard
ly adequate to the eriais which faces us.
We may well emphasize again that the choice ~ is not between
a healthy or e, more-or-less healthy democracy. We are facing the issue of' the
life or death of democracy, in the fw::e of e, protagonist who will have al.1 the
* Science, Fhilosop&, ~ Religion, Princeton University, 1942, p. 254-255
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world or nothing. A mere secular faith, living side-by-side with a naturalistic
or materialistic philosophy, will be little comfort and less strength in u
struggle with a world force vhich is born ot na.tura.lism and materialism f'u.11
blown, and erected into a Yita.l, all-embracing Weltanscha'!!U11i· Here is the
issue as John LeJ'arge expressed it in the Dudleitm lecture a.t He.rvru:d:
"Naturalism. is not just a bog of decay, a spiritual slough of
despond into which lapses an i:ige of wealt faith o.nd worldly preoccupations.
Naturalism is ~ a militant force, firecl inward.'.cy with pride and passion
and aimed outwardly with the migllt of a. vast political power, of elaborate
world organize.tion, of clever propaganda., of bewildering ability to confuse,
divide and disrupt. What we are faced with now is not a choice bet-ween the
positive assertion of God and spirit, and a complete zero. It is a choice
betvreen the positive s.ssertion of God and spirit, and an active militant aJ.l ..
exactins negation."*
It should be apparent no"' why the key word in our title toda\Y is
faith, and that, not a mere secular .faith, unfounded or at lea.at unexamined,
but virile and vital religious faith, based upon the most secure foundation
of God's word.
Once established that we a.re speaking a.bout the necessity of
religious faith., e.nother clarifica.tion is immediately necessary. What is
the object of t.liis religious faith·, I may seem to be doin.¥; violence to my
subject when I state that this religious faith is by no means a faith in
democracy as such. The fact is t..>w.t reason may stii· the soul, and huraanism
ennoble it, and democracy does indeed answer the deep yearnings of the human
spirit. However, no opinion or doctrine or regime of merely human origin,
* J. La.hrge, s.J. / ~World Conceit~' Harvard Divinity School Bulletin, 1948, P• 30.
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no matter how valid and true it may be, but only those truths revealed by God
Himself can :force themselves upon the religious faith of man. Bow God has not
revealed to us considerations ot a political order. We find nothing in the
Old or Nev Testament regarding democracy u the only true end valid form of
government. Is there then no bridge between religion and polities. no rela
tion between rel:tgious taJ.th and democracy. Ot course, ta.1th is necessary in
a living democracy, but it mu.st be rightly lllld.erstood becal.1$e we are speaking
of democracy and not theocracy.
Dr. Ne.thaniel Micklem, Principal of Mansfield. College, OXford,
wrote a. thoughtful book some yea.rs a.go entitled, *•Tlle Theology of Politics."
His basic thesis is that all political problems are at the bottom theological
since "man's political thought is colored or even determined by his real thought
or thOU{")ltlessness about God and man and the meaning of' human lite."* Much of
the crucial situation, to vhich we have already referred in our pr~liminary re
marks, results fTom a growing seculsr1st1c attitude which divorces theological
considerations of God ~Uld man and the values of faith f'rom all aspects of human
lite, especially the political.
We must admit, of course, that the state and the political regime,
whether they be democratic or en:y other, are by their nature a. tem,por<"il a.nd
secular real1 ty. But we ce:nnot forget, and this is the whole import of our
subject today; that religious :f'eti th has inspired and directed man in !dl of his
noble institutions, since faith allows us to see man in the totality of his
being and nature, as it were, with the eyes o:f God. It is faith in this total
view of' man that g1 ves depth and substance and vi ta.11 ty to the d.emoera.tic charter,
and it is in this sense that religious faith is necessary for a liv1:ng democracy.
Moreover, the present conflict between demoera.cy and Coi:mmmimn is
* N. Micltlem, ~ TheoloQ Q! Politics, OXford, 1941, p. x
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most clearly seen on the high level of our living faith and Communism's dental
of this faith and all it believes about God and man. So closely is our faith
related t.o the life of democracy that our antagonist today would exterminate
both of' them together. Even without the diabolic efforts of Conmrunism, democ
racy will surely vitller from within if our faith weakens, for it wau this same
religious faith th.et watched over our bh·tJ1 and grew with us to maturity. It
is still our best weapon in the present conflict.
Jacques Maritain has given us a stirring a.ccount of the battle in
progress, not in tems of planes and tanks and the 1:1.rmaments of a;tomic warfn.re,
but on th.t? spiritual :pla.ne of our t\uid.amerrtal 'beliefs:
"The Christi&1 spirit ls threu:t·:!ned toda:y in its very existence by
implaca.ble enelllies; fan,'l.t:tcs of race and blood., domim:i.tion .nnd ha.te. At the
core of the ho:rri11le ordeal,, f3ve1~;)-1thing iudicrites th;:.it. in the clepths of human
conscience a powerf\11 :religious .cenewa.l is in preps.!'ation, which concerns and
which will restore to their vital sources ;:;,11 the persecuted, all the 'believers
of the great Judeo-Christian family; not only the f<iithful of the Catholic Church,
and those of the Protestant Churches, but also those of Judaism •••• And it is
by working in. the density of the life 01' the world, in a.n attempt to transform
temporal existence, that this s:pi:d t.ua.1 renewal, whatever be the irreducible
division that lt i11.volYes on t!1e dOglllutic and religious plans, will exercise
a common action and will 'bring f'ortl!. common fruits.
"'Democracy, too, is th:r·ea.tened in its very existence, ~.nd by the
same enemies •••• Here, too, everything indice.tes that a .;reat reneW<'i.l of the
spirit is taking place which tends to restore d.emocra.cy to its tr..i~ esue:nce
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and purity its principles • • • • 1'hua in the fea:rful upheaval, on which the
Pagan lmpire ia staking its all to liquidate at the same stroke Chr1atianit)'
and 4emocra.cy, the chances of religion, conscience, and civilization coincide
with those of freedom; treedom'• chances coincide with those ot the evangelical
message."*
'fbia then is the basic issue in its moat elemental terms, not just
democracy versus Conam:J • as two oppos:Ulg poll tical orders, even leas the
~sical might of the West against the armed diviaiona ot the totalitarian
regime, but two world views and. two v:l.ewa of man locked in mortal caabat. We
a.re addressing ourselves todq to the heart of the struggle on the high battle
field. of ideas and fai tbs. It mtq' aoun4 at.range to speak of a Coamm:l stic faith,
but there is one, Just u there ia a Cammm1st1c religion, a Coaauniatic se.er1f1ce
and asceticism. \'he reason that th.ere ia a Ccmm:miatic faith _,.be found in the
famous phrase ot Pascal: tt L' esprit croi t na:turellemen.t, et la volonte a1me
naturellement, 4e sorte que, taute de vra.is objeta, 11 taut qu'ils s•atta.chent
aux faux." The human spirit believes and l.oVea so :natu:ral.1¥, tbat if it does
not have true obJecta ot tai th rmd. love, 1 t Will have fa.1th ill and love false
things.
If then we are to ta.ca this present scourge and. CQIUJ.Wlr it, and
indeed, if' we are to grow and. aurvive independent)¥ ot thia threat, we must re
discover and reactivate the faith that pve birth to our democraey, end. make of
this tai th an active, vital force in tb.e world ~. !homas Aqµirlas put the
task very neatly when he aa:l.d. that there are only three tru.J.T importent end.ea.vars
in lite: to know the right thin.gs to have faith in, to hope tor, and to love.
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What then does religious faith tell us that will strengthen our
devotion to democracy and the democratic ideal. It tel.ls us first of all, and
this is most fundamental, that there is one supreme, personal God. lot a.
cosmic force, not a pantheistic nature god, but a transcendent, spiritual being,
who is both a creator and a preserver of this world, who is the greatest of all
reality upon which all other reality, including man., is dependent. This acknowledg
ment ot God is the irreplacahle foundation of our world view, the most important
point of our differences With Communism which is evil, first and foremost because
it is atheistic, teaching that there is no God. All of the other errors of
Communism stem from this basic atheism. And the strongest bond of unity which
brings us together here todq in opposition to Communism is our common belief in
God, the one personal supreme Master of us all. Thia is our faith, enunciated
in our Declara.t1on of Independence, engraved on our coins a.nd stmnps, pledged in
our allegiance, invoked in all our popular assemblies, the source of all our
blessings, the object of our faith and prqers, "that this ?1<'3,tion, under God,
shall not perish from the earth. "
The &eeond object of our faith is man, not the self-sufficient man
of' Rousseau and the naturalists, but man who possesses dignity and even iumortality
because God has created him after His own image and likeness; a person whose
spiritual soul possesses the godlike powers of knowing and loving, a. person en
dowed by God with all thoae unalienable rights which are necessary tor him to
act hlmaanly., and. to fulfill his God-given destiny according to his awn enli~htened
conscience. The Founding .Fathers in their Declaration of Independence state:
"We hold these truths to be self' evident that all men are created equal, that
they are end.owed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among
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these are life, libertJ', and puraui t of happiness • • • • And tor the support
ot this Declaration, Vith a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,
we autually pleclge to each other, our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.H
Five years later in our Constitution, they enacted this tirat amendment, turther
specit;ying these unalienable rights: 11Congreas ah.all melte no law respecting an
establishmnt of reli&ion, or prollibitillg the tree exercise thereof; or abridging
the treed.ca ot speech or of the press; or tb.e right of the people peaceabl.1' to
assemble and to petition the government tor a redress of grievances." In like
manner, 47 of the 48 states call upon God in their conatitutional documents.
Ot.az- a4ver&fll'1 on the other hand cannot recognize this basic human
dignity, or these familiar m.m. rights, because Camunism does not recognize
God who is the Divine Author of man, hi• dipity, and his righta. Man, in this
world view, is purely of the earth, earth}¥. Be baa no soul, no eternal destiJl1'.
Be is, in short, Just another animal to be used u other an:Jula are used as means
to an end, and in this case, tor the purposes ot the state. Whatever rights he
'llll!q have are not unalienable, because they are given to man by the state and the
state M¥ take tl:2ea a't1fq'. Mam, in the Coammistic scheme ot thiDga, is like any
chattel, expendable. Thus it is again that political questions are theological
in their roots, retle<tt1ng the tbou.8'lt and. thoughtfulneaa of man about God and
human values.
Pursuinc the matter scaevbat further, we tinG. two other corollaries
to this basic belief or unbelief about God and man. Because ot our taith in God
and man, we believe in an obJective moral order of good. and evil. we may call
it the natural law philosophically, God's plan for order in this world, or the
Ten CCllll&DC!rnents as we have them frca God.ts revelation. We believe that thia
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unchanging moral code establishes the broad basia of Juat1ce and charity in
the various rela:t.ionahips between man and his God, between man and ma.u, and
even between u.tion and nation.
On the other band., Ccmmmniea sneers at th1a objective moral order
as it aneers at Qod from. vhca the moral order is ult.i.llatel.1' derived. Once .more,
the state is the arbiter ot mora.llty, law, Justice. Charity is an unheard. ot
word. !be Party eatabliahes its own version of the true and. the good. It may
be one thing ~ and another tca:>rrow.
The second corol.lm7 I would draw trom our ta.1th in God and in man
under God. is our notion ot goverr.u.nt. We look u;pon the state as the agent to
serve aan, the citizen, 1n the poaaeaaion and exercise ot his basic human rights,
and to prcaote the cc:amon good of all the people. In other worda, the state is
tor man, not man tor the state. Aa Lincoln put 1t, we have a government ot tb.e
people, tor the.people, and by tbe people.
Despite the fant:y worda of K:realin propaganda, the state is supreme
in C(S'&Wliatic theory and practice. Man is the aervant and. the slave of the
state, stripped ot all clipity and rights if need. be. low he starves as did
millions of Kulak• because it Hemed beat for the state that the harvest be taken
trca t.hoa who g.i•ew the Wheat. Again, men are banished by the millions to slave
labor in Siberia because such is the will of the state, whatever the dicta.tea ot
justice. All of this can ha»Jen and does happen in a thousand degrading Wf9¥8
once God is denied and tb.e state is put in llis place as the supreme arbiter.
Matter reigns over spirit, force over rigb.t, slaveey over treed.om, power over
Justice. A new reign of terror spreads over halt a world. We alone are stand
ing between the haaDer end sicle, and wbs.t is lett of the tree world.
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It aeema likely' at this Juncture that the spread of this total-
1 tarian scourge can only be arrested by a democratic order that has a tu.ll
consciousness of its strength 1n the spiritual. an4 moral order. But we mu.st
be clear as well u firm 1n our belief. We must know, as the Princeton achol.a.rs
have atated, that "Democr8C1 is not an end 1n itself, to be attained by a:r.:q
means, as are the totalitarian utopia.a. Rather, it 1• means, perhaps the beat
Mana yet found, to an end.. !his end. is the realization in hurl8D society of
certain ideal.a ..... ht.aan dignitJ', moral responsibility, spiritual freedom -
Which have their historic roots 1n Greece and. Palestine, their sanction in a
moral an4 spiritual. order which tnm.aeends history. These idee.la ~ in the
put have been preserved to a l1ll1 Wd extent Vi tbout democracy. But democracy
cannot survive without them ....
There is a further adYaDtage in stressing the obJectivea ot our
faith in that they can easily be understood by &l.l men ot good will throughout
the world., even by people who 111Q' be inclined to quibble a:bout this or that
precise fora of demoera.ctic govermnent. !heae objectives ot our faith, to be
realized by 8Gllll!t legitimate political order, u they are so well realized in
our own, a.re tbemaelvea indivisible objectives. lo one can quibble about the
d.eep aapirationa of h\lll!m dignity, human tree4om, h\1118ll rights -- and these a.re
the realities born ot our faith in Goel, and. tn MD ll8d.e in God' a 1mege. So
otten the face we present to an embattled world is a face that is rich and yet
poor tn its utter u.teria.lia., technological with all the trappings of tractors
and airplanes and gadgets, and yet seeaing not to know or speak of our rich
spiritual treasure a of wisdom and Justice and treedaa. If we are to stem the
tide that tbreatena half a world yet tree, we should speak to their hearts the
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message that comes from the heart of our faith, to give lite and vigor to our
world view.
Jacques Maritain in a.n eloquent passage tells us of our task,
what we must do for ourselves and our world, with God's help, if we and they
a.re to survive:
nr.ro keep faith in the forward march of hUllWllity despite all the
temptations to despair of man that are turnished by history and particularly
contemporary history; to have faith in the dignity of the person and of common
humanity, in hum.an rights and in justice -- tha.t is, in essentially spiritual
valuesl to be.ve, not in formul.&e, but in reality, the sense of and the respect
tor the dignity of the people, which is a spiritual dignity and is revealed to
whoever knows how to love it; to sustain and revive the sense of equality with
out sinking into a leveling equalita.ris.niam; to respect authority knowing that
its wielders are only men, like those they rule, and derive their trust from the
consent or the will of the people whose vicars or representatives they are; to
believe in. the sanctity of the law and in the efficacious virtue of political
JU.Stice at long range in the tace of the scandalous triumphs of falsehood and
violence; to have faith in liberty and in :fraternity, an heroic inspiration and
an heroic belief a.re needed which fortity and vivify reason, and which :none other
than Jesus of Nazareth brought forth in the world. 11* fhere is an old scholastic adage: nemo d.a.t quad non habet -- no
one gives what he does not have. In the present anguish of a divided world, we
who believe in God must ask ourselves if our t'ai th is vital enough to meet the
demands of our times and to be e. match for the historical event. Ho other power
than the spiritual power of our faith is adequate to meet the challenge with a
* J. Maritain, Cbristianitz ~ Demoera.cz, p. 6o
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response that will be heard and. followed around the world. This is the time,
then, to purify our actions and our thoughts, to bring our fa.1th to bear on
e'VV'Y' aspect of our lives a.a a •tion and as individ.uals. Bov is the hour tor
courage and devotion, tor hope and prayer 1 tor a reawakening of our faith in
these great divine and. ma.an realities in which ve believe, and which are the
last hope ot an embattled world.
Charles Malik ot IAtbanon pu.ts our problem aqua.rely before us:
*'If there is a God. and it He has spoken, then history cannot go
on without Him and Bia word .... the ultimate challerJ,ge is whether the Weat
is going to center its life in God or in something elae, such u •progress•,
or 'adJuatment• or 'science' or ' flOCial Justice' or •bigber and higher stan
dards of living.• 8eculari• or God ... - this eeema to be the challenge. 'fhe
rebellion and. fanaticiSDl of Commm.1• can only be •t by a power and convic ..
tion that, for the West, onlJ' its real God, reaffirmed on a broad national
basis, can provide."*
'l'hia reattirmation o'f God on a national. basis is directly the
work of the churches. 919 state can provide the bOCV politicJ it cannot pro
vide the soul. What practically 1a involved in the reaffirmation of God in
our nation: We have spoken amply of the tbeor.Y, ot the spiritual foundations
ot our democracy, what of the practice: We have mentioned the threat without,
trom the great advera&1"1 that claiJu the world tor totalitarianism, aa we claim
1 t tor 4aocracy. We have h&rcUy spoken of the di vision in our awn renlta that
makes tor disunity within u we oppose the gree.t ene!Q' without. I do not speak
here of disunity of doctrine or worship, for the caee presented thua tar baa
been in terms of a cmmon belief in Ood 8124 in man created. in God• s image. But
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I do speak of the practical diSUDity created b;y tb.ose who aha.re the benei'ita
of dellloerac;y without professing actively or practicing a religious lite that
aboulcl follow the religious faitb that is at the heart of democracy. There
is a name tor the ettecta ot a weak or 4.evitalized faith. Secularism. is the
root reality, moral. anarc~ is its obvious effect.
We cannot sq that we have not been warned. The Founding J'atbera
professed their faith, following the best traditions ot the Western World.
They left no doubt about the necessity of faith in God. as the true basis of
our democratic cb&rter. · George Washington, the founder ot our country, end
our first President, said in his farewell Mdress:
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, religion and morality are iadispensable supports •••• Reason and
experience forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion
of religious principle."
Abr$.ham Lincoln pleaded vi th the people ot his dJq to count their
blessi:ngs and recogniu God as their source. light ti.lies during his Presidency,
he issued proclamations of thanksgiving and. da\Ys of pr~r and tasting. Would
that we could 'hear hie ovn etrcmg voice telling us tod&,y' the message of his
Proclamation ot March 30, 1863:
0 We have been the recipients ot the choicest blessings of Beaven:
we have been preserved these many years in peace and proa:per1 ty • • • • but we
have forgotten Go4.. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in
peace, and. mu.ltiplied. alld enriched us, end we have vainly i.JDagined, in the de
ceit ot our hearts, that all these blessings were prod.uced b;y sane superior
wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become
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too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace,
too proud to prS¥ to the God that made us. 11
We eited earlier ·the words of Niebuhr to the effect that "History
pitches the drama of life on continually higher levels, but the essentials of
the drama remain the same."
Preside.nt Eisenhower has described the higher level of the current
crisis: '11"'.ro atomic colossi stand d.ocaed me..le·.,olently to eye each other in
definitely' across a, trembling world." And our President has issued n call to
action 1n the best tradition of our Founding Fathers, along the same lines as
Wa.sh~>ton and Lincoln. Speaking at Evanston, he aaid: 11 '.l'he time ha.a come
when for mankind there 1s no substitute for a. Just and la.sting peace." And.
he suggests, as Lincoln did, the price of this peace. He calls for worldwide
prayer as a mighty, simultaneous, intense act of faith and added that faith
c~m move mountains.
It is unthinkable that the leaders of Communism would ever issue
a call for prayer. But here preeieely is our special, and practically only,
advantage in this crisis. The CORm.Ulists bell('~Ve on]Jr and fanatically in
physical power. In this they m.a:y reach an equilibrium vi th us~ JDa¥ even some
dey surpass us. But they cannot pray, tor they have no god but themselvea.
We, as a nation, can call on a higher power. Indeed all our other actions will
be meaningless a.ml ultimately fruitless unless ve do remain true to the best of
our tradition and ask the all-powerful God to aid ua in our cause if it is right.
''Unless God watches the city, they labor in vain who watch it." (Psalm 126)
But even here is the practical Cl"UX of the problem. Our ca.use
must be right if our prayer is to be sincere aJld it we hope to be heard by God.
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And our C'8U8e Will be right if we truly respect the Kingd.om of God and His
justice.
'.rhis means many things, if our religious faith is to be vital
and active in the civic and social lite of our democracy. It means that we
recognize the widespread and disentegrating influence of secularism for what
it is in our lives and our institutions today. It means that we repudiate all
manifestations of secularism in act as well as in word. It means specifically
that we obaerve the sabbath as a. nation, and that our lives during the rest of
tbe week do not give a lie to what we profess in church on Su.nday. It means
that God and His moral order a.re given a place ot honor and commitment in our
banes and in our schools, that the separation of Church and State does not come
to mean something that the Founding le.th.era never intendedt that God is driven
out of the heritage that was beralded here at the Pilgrim's landing with the
words: "In the name of God, Amen.,. It means that we address ourselves to find
some valid means un.der the Constitution to insure for 70ung Americans, in or
out of school, a knowledge of the richness and sacredness of our heritage under
God, and that we have little time and leas patience with educators 'Who would
banish this heritage as unsophisticated, unscientific, and inconsequential.
Vital faith requires that we apply the moral la.w to business as well as to
pleasure; that Justice and charity and equality for all means Just that, !2!,
!!±.' tor all Americans certainly, and indeed for !:.!±~everywhere. It means
that our Vital faith will breathe the spirit of life into the dry bones of all
civic and social endeavor. It means, above all, working together as men who
believe in God and in the 4.1.gnity of man under God, our Father, working together
as men of good will With an abiding "faith in the brotherhood of man, a sense
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ot the social duty of eQBU>8Ssion tor mankind in the person of the week and
suffering, the conviction that the political work par excellence is that of
rendering our camnon lite: bettsr and more brotherly, 8lld. of' working ao es
to make of the structure of laws, institutions, end cuatoma of this common
life a. house for brothers to live in."*
All this, I believe, must be encom)Nsed in az:ry statement or
profession of the necessity of faith in e. liv!Dg democracy. Ct.Jr title might
even be restated to read: 'l'be necessity" of a living faith if democr&ey is to
live and grow -- and ind.eed to survive. It was on such a. note that Arnold
Toynbee concluded his nw.ssive ten volume "Study of llistory."
The world today is so fraught with :tear and trepidation, and a
sense of impending doom, that I would like to conclude these remarks with two
reflectione in a more optimistic view.
My first reason for optimia is the tact that all of us, Protest.ants,
Catholics, Jews, have recognized a. neecled strength in working together as God
loving and God-tea.ring Americana, standing united against those who deny God.
This alone is like a sudden burst of light in the darkness. Let us recognize
this new strength and be g:r'i!.tetul for what it promises for America. We have
too often stood apart, even in this basic allegb.nce to God 8l.ld ltis moral law,
in which we are together at heart. While we stand together with faith in God
and His la.w, I should be less than frank with all of you and myself, did I :not
admit that what I have expressed in these pages is a bare skeleton of my faith,
and a poer reflection of what richness you find in your own. However incom-
plete is this small portion of our faith, at lea.st it represents the antitheais
of the power of evil that stallds against us. May God grant that all of us,
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with the full power of our faith and religious practice, 1118¥ rally our
people in full spiritual arnv against this evil thing that es.ta at the
heart of humanity.
KY second reflection is born ot a hope that the rigbtness of
our cause is the best presage of eventual victory, it onl.1' we can labor
valiantly and courageously and With the grace of God to make our heritage
alive in these eVil days. I have aha.red With you throughout this pa.per the
thoughts of minds more brilliant than mine, thinking the deep thoughts that
can lead us to victor/. One :final sharing I trust you Will allow me - becauae
I cannot match in words of mine, the call to heroism in our endeavor, that I
find in the stirring words of one who has diseowred as a foreigner what we
perhaps ba.ve taken for granted.
u (l\lllerica) knows that the man of canmon human1 ty has e. right to
the 'pursuit of happiness' ... a slogan which, if wll Ulld.fqstood, denotes a
series o:f implications: it denotes the pursuit of the primary conditions and
primary possessions which a.re the prerequisite of a free li:f'e, and vhoae denial,
endured by so ~ multitudes, is a cruel wound in the f'lesh of humanity,; it
denotes the pursuit ot tbe superior possessions of culture and the mind, the
pursuit ot liberation from want, tram tear, end frt111 servitude; it denotes the
pursuit ot that freedom and that lruman plenitude which is bound u.p with the
mastery of self', 'Which in the imperfect order of temporal life, is the highest
goal ot civilization, end wh1eh, 1n a. superior order, asks to be perfectly rea
lized by means of the spiri tu.al transformation of the human being and which man
can attain only by great love end the incessant gift of self. Here heroism is
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needed, not to overcome a trage~, but to bring to a eat1atactoey close a
wonderful ad.venture, begun tor this country at the time ot the Pils;rim J'atbera
and the pioneers and. in the great d.qs of the .Declaration of Independence and
the BevolutiOD&l"Y war.
"&umoc1ng all men to the pu.raui t of such happiness, if only we
place 1t high enough and know tbe price it will cost, .means undertaking the
greatest of all temporal revolutiODa. And this has no meaning unless the ca.11
to tbe pursuit ot: happiness is indistinct trora a ca.ll to heroia."*
I would close with e. pr~r that God 'fJB3 grant us a great and.
abiding faith, that we Dllq, by Bis grace, be adequate to the task we face
together.
* J. Marita.in, Chriatiani;tz !!'!, ~craci., pp. 94-95
...